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Dhampyr Strain
The Dhampyr Strain is one of three Strains of Vampirism associated with the Nosgothica, a type fictional type of Vampire existing only in Source Land Vampirism and part of the Source Lands Setting. Dhampyr The Dhampyrs are those vampires who begged and groveled for the Sun's Mercy, and thus were granted a significant portion of their humanity back. Absolutely the weakest of vampires, even their name indicates this - meaning "Half-Vampire". * Note: Like the Nosferatu, the Dhampyrs are only the fledglings of their strain, but struggle to remain in that stage. Unique Properties Despite being considered only as half-vampires, the Dhampyrs still have a few unique properties and abilities. * Sight - Dhampyrs take a -4 penalty to seeing in daylight or well-lit settings, but no penalty for low-light. * Aphrodisiac - The Dhampyr's fangs are the source of a potent sedative and aphrodisiac, that can become addictive. A fortitude save vs. 10+Blood-Potency is required not to fall unconscious if bitten by a Dhampyr, and 20+blood-potency to avoid being stunned while bit, if still conscious. * Hypnotism - The Dhampyr can hypnotize people, if they have eye contact and speak the same language and the victim can hear the dhampyr. The Dhampyr rolls Presence+Persuasion vs DC 10+Blood-Potency Will Save. The Dhampyr can only issue a one-word command, but may build a sentence of multiple words by beating the defensive roll by 5 or more - adding an additional word for each 5 scored over. * Not all words count against the vampire's word-count - an example is, if a Dhampy scored 35 on a roll against a defensive roll of 15, the Dhampyr has 4 words, and then gives the command "Go and fetch the wine" to the victim. This command uses only three words, as the remainder are only used for constructing the sentence, and do not influence the actual meaning of the sentence in any meaningful way. * Third-Eye - The Dhampyrs, being a bit of both worlds, are much better at seeing the difference. Detect Magic is a racial ability, and the Dhampyr can also add a permanent bonus (equal to Blood-Potency) to insight rolls to gauge emotions, intentions or true nature. * Reversing-the-Veil - Dhampyrs can reverse the effects of the veil, calling attention to themselves instead of shunning it. It is done by rolling presence+bloodpotency against a DC of 10+number of people affected, and the dhampyr then gains a +1 bonus to all social rolls made against the affected, and an additional plus 1 bonus for every time the vampire beat the DC by 5. * Day-Walkers - Dhampyrs are not particularly bothered by the sun. Their skin turns red with blisters if left uncovered for even short amounts of time, and this only worsens if they do not find shade, and will kill them in mere hours, but if wearing clothes and covering their heads somewhat, they can easily brave the light of day - but it requires a Will Save vs DC 10+Blood-Potency to stay awake during the day, becoming harder and harder the more powerful the vampire becomes. * The vampire does not fall asleep instantly if it fails, but must seek a place to rest in the shade, and sleep until dusk. * During the day, and in the sun, vampire powers do not work, apart from regeneration, and even this will only work in the shade. * Despite this, they are still nocturnal, and will be lethargic during the day, finding a need to sleep when they encounter the rays of the sun. * Partial-Shifting - A Dhampyr can learn to take on certain traits of the Nosferatu, including bat-like noses, long pointed ears and other traits, but these abilities are bought as powers. * Somewhat-Subterranean - The Dhampyr can learn to avoid day-time hibernation like the Nosferatu, but this ability is bought as an advantage. Unlike the Nosferatu, the Dhampyr can still not use its powers during the day. Ekkimara The Dhampyrs may be called half-vampires, but as the centuries drag on, their own perception of this matter almost always becomes the same - that they are clearly not human at all. As a Dhampyr comes to term with this, their vampirism eventually wins out, and the Dhampyr begins looking more and more like a Nosferatu. * The Ekkimara can utilize partial shifting the other way around - namely to remove Nosferatu features, and must do so every time it awakens, thus - unlike the Dhampyr, the Ekkimara requires the expenditure of vitae merely to be able to show its face in society when it awakens. * The Ekkimara can transform back into its normal form, gaining all advantages of the Nosferatu, except the Beast-Master and Shadow-Stalker abilities, as well as its bite not being toxic. * The Ekkimara can learn the remaining Nosferatu Abilities, but these are bought as powers. Vampire Lord A Vampire Lord is the Higher Vampire form of a Dhampyr. Higher Vampires are not common at all, but the Vampire Lord, during both the Imperial Era and the Colonial Era, are the most common of their kind - ceding this title to the Vespers during the Pre-Imperial Era, and the Post-Imperial Era. * The Vampire Lord is well known for its ability to turn into an entire swarm of bats. This is a rather impressive ability, as it literally allows the Lord to be in multiple places at the same time. The number of bats the Vampire's Swarm is equal to the vampire's HP rating multiplied by the Vampire's Blood-Potency, but each bat slain causes 1 HP damage to the vampire. * Vampire Lords naturally retain any powers of their lesser, and fledgling forms. * Vampire Lords to appear human, but their eyes glow yellow and their skin tends to either be, respectively; ashen gray, have pale blue hues or be milky white, but when they feed, their appearance returns to a state of normalcy until dawn or dusk comes around, at which point they must repeat the process - alternatively, they can burn vitae to look normal for a single hour. * Vampire Lords can defy gravity and walk straight up any surface or stand on a ceiling. * Vampire Lords can levitate 1 foot above the ground, and can slow-fall any distance. Garkain Garkain may be dead, but Vampire Lords that become corrupted become his spitting image. It was Garkain's soul fragments that was the seed from which all Nosgothica sprung, and Garkain himself is in there somewhere, within each and every vampire - but especially the Dhampyr-Strain are victim to Garkain's influence, as Garkain was a mortal, and the Dhampyrs have the closest connection to the Mortal Realm. * Garkains are incredibly rare - or so people hope. The truth is, most Garkains that came into existence probably immediately went off the grid on some nefarious plot or scheme. * A few Garkains were slain during the Imperial- and Pre-Imperial Eras and a single was faced off against during the Post-Imperial Era. * According to the rumors, Garkains are masters of shadows, capable of bending shadows to their wills, and even traveling through shadows - this only furthers the general assumption that there could be any number of Garkains, because it appears they can pretty much up and leave as long as they have access to a shadow... Alp